Boost for Brisbane medtech hub

The Queensland government has given special permission for an expansion of the Translational Research Institute, according to a report.

InQueensland reported on Tuesday that a $60 million expansion of the medtech research hub had been “quietly given the green light” by the state development minister.

The TRI is spending $20 million of its own money on construction of TRI2, a second building at the facility, and is requesting the Queensland and federal government’s match that by $20 million each.

The new site could assist local companies in development and manufacture of vaccines, rather than having to look overseas.

It would address a current gap in medtech infrastructure, which currently means “companies are receiving manufacturing equipment and recruiting to commence Phase II trials, but they do not have the facilities to proceed and have to take their innovations overseas, setting Australia back,” according to the TRI’s material.

One of the institute’s tenants is Vaxxas, which is developing a needle-free drug delivery platform.  

Dr Angus Forster, the company’s Chief Development and Operations Officer, told @AuManufacturing last year that the site was suitable for Phase I trials, but it would need to move for later-stage studies requiring manufacture under a TGA license.

“One of our next set of challenges is where do we move the operations to, to enable that manufacture of clinical trial products to stay here in Brisbane,” he said in June.

Picture: www.tri.edu.au/about

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